The Chief Executive Officer of Sportingbet Australia, Michael Sullivan, was the target of an attack this week. A BMW X5 car was in flames outside of his North Shore home, according to the Daily Telegraph newspaper. Sullivan was not present at the time of the fire. However, his wife and two children were present, but escaped the property unharmed.
Sullivan, who was in Los Angeles, California when the attack occurred, told the Telegraph, “Due to the quick work of the police and fire brigade, the fire was contained to the car and some damage to the outside of the house. There is currently a police investigation ongoing to determine the cause of the fire.” The newspaper quoted police as saying an investigation is currently ongoing and that they are “treating it as suspicious.”
Sportingbet Australia bills itself as “Australia’s Largest Bookmaker.” It offers the opportunity to wager on a variety of sporting events including American football, basketball, golf, ice hockey, soccer, and rugby. The company is based in the Northern Territory of Australia and licensed by the Northern Territory Government. Sportingbet, which is the umbrella organization, is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange under the symbol “SBT.”
Sportingbet owns and operates Paradise Poker, which it acquired in 2004. The online poker room no longer services the American market, as it departed after the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in 2006. PartyPoker’s parent company, PartyGaming, which is also traded on the London Stock Exchange, elected to vacate the U.S. market as well. Sportingbet also owns Superbahis (which caters to the Turkish market), Miapuesta (which focuses on Spanish markets), and Sportingbet Greece.
Paradise Poker is a member of the Boss Network, which currently includes 24h Poker, Canada Poker, Celeb Poker, Fortune Poker, and Poker Heaven. CryptoLogic, which operates its own network of online poker rooms, recently announced that its sites would be merging with the Boss Network in the beginning of 2009. CryptoLogic will instead focus on software development.
Sportingbet was founded by Mark Blandford in 1998. It acquired SportsBook.com, which focused on the U.S. market, in 2001 and founded Sportingbet Australia one year later. On October 13, 2006, Paradise Poker stopped taking deposits from customers in the United States. The UIGEA was signed into law the same day after being ushered through Congress by former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Andrew McIver, the Chief Executive at the time, commented in a press release regarding the exit of the company from the U.S. market, “We are saddened to have to dispose of such a fantastic business as a result of political actions in the U.S. Congress. The sale, however, prevents significant closure costs which would have been both expensive and time consuming.”
Paradise Poker is in the midst of promoting its largest tournament ever, a €1 Million Guaranteed event. First prize is slated to be around €200,000 and the online poker room is upping the ante by also awarding €32,500 in Team Paradise Poker sponsorships to the top ten finishers when the smoke clears in the event, including €10,000 to its winner. The €1,050 buy-in tournament takes place this Sunday, December 14th at 19:00 GMT. There are satellites running constantly which start as low as €5.50. Paradise Poker is also giving players a chance to compete in the 2009 Aussie Millions, the Helsinki Freezeout, and other high-stakes tournaments that take place throughout the world.
The Telegraph stated that on the day of the Melbourne Cup horse race, which took place last month, Sportingbet Australia fielded 20,000 bets placed over the phone and an additional 145,000 wagers placed online.
